Cary L. Brown said:
Actually, I'm kinda diggin' that deflector.. except for the fact that the "brass ring" seems sort of monochromatic (I'd be inclined to have it be much more "backlit," so it looks like a real piece of brass photoetch laid on top of the "dish" in that location.

The ring is actually nothing new, it's been part of the design for a good couple of years now, it just hasn't made any recent appearances. What is going to change is the way the ring is built; there are enough radial lines going on in the deflector dish already so I'm going to eliminate the slots in the ring and make it more or less solid.

I do notice that the torpedo launcher in the secondary hull looks a bit different... not able to pick out the changes too clearly, but they're definitely there (the main difference I can see now is the single little red dot in the middle of the big black area... versus the two old "TMP-style" red-lined tubes we saw last time... and the apparent loss of the "springy-support system?"). Was that torpedo launcher in the saucer underside (where the TMP E's forward scanner was) there before???

Actually, very little has changed with the torpedo launchers. The launcher above the deflector dish is actually a side-by-side pair of photorp tubes, although you can't see them too well at the moment because they're not lit. The launcher below the deflector is a single quantorp launcher. All of that is the same as it was previously. The launcher in front of the lower sensor dome on the saucer is new, also a quantorp launcher, so the saucer has its own heavy-hitting capability when separated.

The forward primary-hull "notch" seems a bit sparse... I know you've gone through dozens of iterations re: this, but I'm curious what you're planning to do with this now?

Haven't totally figured that out yet. The big pulse cannons are still going to be located there, but I'm trying to come up with a way to make them look a little less like massive gun barrels but still obviously powerful weapons. Fundamentally, they should still look a lot like the ones in the image you posted.

Obviously, you don't have windows in... and no markings. and I note the lack of any "nacelle pylon edge-grillwork" that I've just sort of become accustomed to seeing. I'm assuming that some, or all, of that is "coming soon?"

Windows are definitely coming but will be one of the last details added. Some more markings will be added, possibly including a fairly radical paint scheme as part of the texturing work, depending on input from Captain Roop, The Commander, et al. The nacelle pylons are basically the right shape but have hardly had anything more done with them at all. Eventually they will have some grillwork added and a lot of blending and refinement done to them.

Then again... is it possible that you've "rolled back" some of the details, so we're seeing elements of my personal fav (this one) again?

I actually rather liked that one myself but it had some problems as far as integrating it with the design for the neck and secondary hull. So no, I really haven't "rolled back" any of those particular design elements.